Locking device for foot presses



March 18, 1952 J. VEILLEUX LOCKING DEVICE FOR FOOT PRES-SE5 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Filed Dec. 29, 1949 INVENTOR. Lewis J. Veilleux AM, arney Ma fch 18, I952 L. J. VEILLEUX LOCKING DEVICE FOR FOOT PRESSES Filed DeG.x 29. 1949 '2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Fi 6A INVENTOR.

= .4 Lewis J. Veilleux treadle.

Patented Mar. 18, 1952 LOCKING DEVICE FOR FOOT PRESSES Lewis J. Veilleux, Waterbury, Conn., 'assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application December 29, 1949, Serial N 0. 135,7 66

6 Claims.

This invention relates to fastener setting machines of the type that are operated by a foot More particularly it relates to safety unit attachment to such machines to insure that the setting of the fastener element, once started by the movement of a treadle operating means, must be carried to completion, and is an improvement upon the invention disclosed in the Huelster et al., Patent No. 2,345,476, dated March 28, 1948.

in foot operable fastener attaching and setting machines, a treadle is usually provided as the operating means and a sound or impulsive kick to the treadle is required to insure a secure and complete attachment of the fastener elements to the material of a, garment or the like. Occasionally, and especially toward the end of a working period, an operator may, perchance, give but a weak or relatively mild kick to the treadle thereby resulting in the fastener elements being only partially or insecurely closed upon the material.

The present invention has for its primary object the provision of improved means for insuring that the fastener elements will be completely closed in a secure manner to the material.

A further object is to provide a unit having several locking stations and wherein the first locking stock will position the setting dies so that the cloth therebetween can still be adjusted for a proper setting position.

A further object is to provide a muchsimpler and foolproof safety mechanism of the above character and therefore more economical to construct than heretofore devices such as disclosed in the patent reference referred to.

The above objects of the invention are obtained by applying a very simple unit to the bed plate of the machine, which unit operates in connection with the treadle movement to accomplish the above results. This unit consists chiefly of a ratchet member loosely pivoting on a support and coacting with a gravity influenced pawl operating in guideways on the treadle bar, the ratchet member being provided with notches engaged by the pawl to block the return and advancing stroke of the treadle bar unless the stroke is completed in either direction. v

The invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing,

wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a conventional form of foot operable fastener attaching and setting machine, with the safety device of I my invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the latching device unit, the view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the latching device unit as seen from the right of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the guideway and pawl and a portion of the treadle bar to which the guideway is attached looking generally from the right of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are sectional views on line 55 of Fig. 3 showing the sequential steps in which the pawl carried by the treadle bar cooperates with the ratchet member to prevent the return of the treadle bar unless it has completed its full stroke.

Fig. 5A is a longitudinal sectional view through a set of tools such as used for setting a stud and post upon a garment, and showing their relative spaced position when the machine is at rest and the pawl position is as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 6A is a similar view showing the dies in their relative position when the pawl is caught in the first notch of the ratchet finger'as shown in full in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6B is a view showing the position of the dies when the pawl is in its second catch position of the dotted position "A, and

Fig. 7A is'a view showing the position of the dies when the assembly of the fastener element is complete such as when the pawl is in the full line position of Fig. 7.

The safety unit according to the present invention is illustrated as applied to a-treadle operated machine having a stand I0 upon which is supported a table or bed plate II from which rises a head I2 having upstanding bearing supports I3 in which is pivoted a lever or rocker arm I4 for operating a plunger I5, said plunger being vertically slidable in a bearing I6 carried by the head I2. The lever I 4 is actuated through-an adjustable link I! and a bell-crank lever I8 by means of a stirrup or treadle bar I9 adjustably connected to the bell-crank lever I8. The bellcrank lever I8 is pivotally mounted on the stand I0 as at I 80,. A stop boss 20 is provided upon the head I2 for limiting the upward movement of the plunger I5 by reason of the rocker arm 14 contacting thereagainst in its downward stroke. Furthermore, the downward stroke of plunger I5 may be controlled by an adjustable stop 2| also located on the head I2 and against which be1l-' crank I8 is adapted to abut.

The machine may be provided with any type of dies depending upon the character of the fastener elements which are to be set by the machine, and

' may consist of a setting die punch 23 carried on the end of the plunger I 5 and an anvil die 24 sup- 7 position.

ported on the bed plate II in direct alignment with plunger 45. Figs. A, 6A, 6B and 7A show in detail setting dies such as is used in setting a complementary stud 50 and post 51 upon a support S such as garment fabric. The die punch 23 5 is provided with a spring influenced catch finger 52 that serves to hold the stud 50 against the lower face of said die punch 23. The anvil die 24 is surrounded by a slidable sleeve 53 which is normally held in its uppermost position against 10 a stop pin 54 by an expansion coil-spring 55. The sleeve serves to hold the post 51 inplace upon the anvil die 24 and is adapted to be depressed about the die 24 coincident with the fastener setting operation, as will be more fully explained later.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 3 and 4 which illustrate one specific form of latch means employed in the present invention, the numeral 30 designates an inverted T shape bracket that is adjustably attached to the table II of the machine by bolts 3i which pass through elongated slots 32 in the base 35a. of said bracket. The purpose of the elongated slots 32 is to permit the proper adjustment of the safety unit relative to the position that the punch die 23 and anvil die 24 are to be spaced when the first stop catch takes effect. A ratchet finger 3 3 is pivotally mounted upon the upstanding wall bof bracket 38 by means of a stud bolt 34. The finger 33 is allowed 30 The mechanism that cooperates with the 40 ratchet finger 33 is carried by the bell-crank lever I8 and consists of a guideway block 40 that is rigidly attached to said lever I8 as by bolts 40a. and has a vertical T shaped .slot 4| provided therein. Operating within this slot 4| is a gravity influenced slide block 42 having a pawl 43 projecting outwardly therefrom and operating in the plane of the ratchet finger 33. As best seen in Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive, the pawl 43 has -a depending dog 44 and alsoan end dog 45 which dogs cooperate with the detent notches 36 and 31 on the upper surface of the finger 33 during the advancing stroke of the lever l8.

Once the operator starts to move the operating treadle l9 it will be impossible to retract the treadle unless it completes its full stroke by'reason of the manner in which the dogs 44 and 45 on the'pawl 43 engage with the detents 36 and 3'! on the finger 33 as will be now more fully explained. Considering first Fig. 5, the finger 33 and pawl 43 are shown in their normal inoperaac tive position with the treadle bar in its retracted When the bell-crank lever l8 moves from left to right, as viewed in Fig. 1, tooperate the plunger [5, the pawl 43 will slide to the right of the finger 33 and causing the block '42 to slide upwardly in guicleway block "40. If, perchance,

- the treadle bar 19 should start back before it is anywhere near its finished stroke, but after dog :44 has passed detent notch36, the'depending dog 44 on pawl 43 will engage in the first detent notch Upon the. upper surface of the ratchet 5 shown in FignGA and is such that any garment material S placed therebetween can still be adjusted for a proper location of the fastener setting.

Upon further movement of the treadle bar IS the next locking efiect will result when the pawl 43 is in position A shown by dotted outlines in Fig. 6, i. e., wherein the depending dog 44 engages with the second detent notch 31 of the finger 33. At this position of the pawl 43 and finger 33 the relativeposition of the punch die 23 and anvil die 24 is such that the slidable sleeve 53 is depressed about the anvil die and the fastener elements penetrate the garment material S and are partially clinched together in the manner as shown in Fig. 6B.

A still further and final'locking effect results when the pawl 43 is in position B" as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 7, i. e., wherein the end dog 45 of said pawl 43 will engage in the second detent notch 37. After the treadle bar H] has completed its full stroke, the end dog 45 of the pawl 43 will clear the end of the projection 38 permitting the slide block 42 to drop to the position as shown in Fig. 7 wherein the depending dog '44 will rest upon the wear plate .25 of the bracket base 30a. When the pawl 43 has cleared the ratchet finger projection 33 as just described, it will'be understood that the dies '23 and 24 will have been moved to their fastener setting positions and the fastener elements 5|] and 5| will have been completely and securely affixed to the garment material S as shown in Fig. 7A.

In this released position of the pawl 43, the treadle bar 19 will be allowed to be retracted to its initial starting position causing the pawl 43 to move to the left as viewed in Fig. 7 and pass .underneath the ratchet finger 33. If, perchance, the treadle bar I9 has not returned to its initial starting position and a kick is given to said treadle bar, it cannot return to its completely advanced position by reason of the fact that the leading end-46 of the pawl 43 will engage against the underneath detent notch '39 of finger .33.

This is a further safety factor wherein the operator will necessarily have to make a complete return stroke of the treadle bar i9 before another fastener setting stroke can be started. 'It is here pointed out that, if perchance, a blocking condition as shown in Fig. 8 is effected, the relative spaced position of dies 23 and 24 is such that the set fastener elements on the garment can be removed from the machine, :but the distance between said dies is such that the fastener elements cannot be assembled into their respective dies, and the treadle bar will have to be necessarily returned to a position where the pawl 43 will clear from underneath the ratchet finger 33.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that a very simple device has been provided without the use of springs or numerous interacting levers, latches, etc., to accomplish the safety unit that is needed to operate var-ions types of fastener'setting machines operated by foot power. it will further be appreciated that while there as viewed in Fig. 6 riding over the top surface 5' is here shown :and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to 'be limited to'the specific details of the construction as herein dis- ;closed since these may be varied within the range of engineering skill without departing;from the spirit of the inventionas, defined in the accompanying claims.

I claim: I 1. In a foot opera-ted machine having a plunger, a rocker arm and a treadle lever for operating said rocker arm for operating said plunger, a safety unit mounted on said machine adjacent said treadle lever to assure that the latter will complete a full stroke once it has started; said unit comprising a bracket mounted on said machine adjacent said treadle lever, a ratchet finger pivotally mounted on said bracket and having one or more notches positioned in its upper surface, said finger having its free end resting on a support surface such as to normally maintain said finger in an inclined position to its pivot point, and a gravity influenced slide member movable in guideways on said lever and having a pawl for cooperating with said ratchet finger notches as a positive stop to prevent the return stroke of said lever when said pawl is moving over the top surface of said ratchet finger, said pivot finger permitting free movement of said pawl under said finger during the return stroke of said lever.

2. In a foot operated machine having a plunger, a rocker arm and a treadle lever for operating said rocker arm for operating saidplunger, a safety unit mounted on said machine adjacent said treadle lever to assure that the latter will complete a full stroke once it has started; said unit comprising a bracket mounted on said machine adjacent said treadle lever, a ratchet finger pivotally mounted on said bracket and having notches on its upper and lower surfaces, said finger having its free end resting on a support surface such as to normally maintain said finger in an inclined position to its pivot point, and a gravity influenced slide member movable vertically in guideways on said lever, said slide member having pawl means for cooperating with said ratchet finger notches to prevent the return or advancing motion of said treadle lever unless it has completed a full stroke in either direction.

3. A stroke control unit for a machine having a member oscillating in a horizontal direction, said unit comprising a bracket supported on said machine adjacent said member, a ratchet finger pivoted on said bracket and having a notch in its upper surface, a gravity influenced pawl carried by said oscillating member, and cooperating cam means on the pawl and ratchet finger permitting said pawl to ride over the top of said ratchet finger when said member is moving in one direction and under said finger when said member is moving in the opposite direction, said finger notch and pawl cooperating to prevent the return of said oscillating member unless it has completed a full stroke.

4. A stroke control unit for a machine having a member oscillating in a horizontal direction, said unit comprising a bracket supported on said machine adjacent said member, a ratchet finger pivoted on said bracket and having a notch in its upper surface and a detent in its under surface, a gravity influenced pawl carried by said member, and cooperating cam means on the pawl and ratchet finger permitting said pawl to ride over the top of said ratchet finger when said member is moving in one direction and under said finger when said member is moving in the opposite direction, said finger notches and pawl cooperating to prevent the return of said oscillating member unless it has completed its stroke in either direction.

5'. A stroke control unit for a machine having a member oscillating in a horizontal direction, said unit comprising a bracket supported on said machine adjacent said member, a ratchet finger pivoted on said bracket and normally disposed in an inclined position to its pivot point, said finger having a notch in its upper surface, means on said member having a vertical guideway, a gravity influenced slide operating in said guideway, said slide having a projecting pawl adapted to ride over the upper surface of said finger when said member is moving in one direction andcooperating with said finger notch to prevent the return stroke of said member unless it has moved a predetermined distance and to pass underneath said finger during the return stroke of said member.

6. A stroke control unit for a machine having a member oscillating in a horizontal direction, said unit comprising a bracket support on said machine adjacent said member, a ratchet finger pivoted on said bracket and having notches in its upper and lower surfaces, means on said memher, having a vertical guideway, a gravity influenced slide operating in said guideway, said slide having projecting means for sliding upon the upper surface of said finger when said member is moved in one direction and adapted to pass under said finger when moved in the opposite direction, said projecting means on said slide engaging with said finger notches to prevent reverse movement of said member unless it has completed a full stroke in either direction.

LEWIS J. VEILLEUX.

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATESQPATENTS Number Name Date 395,516 Robinson Jan. 1, 1889 1,185,071 Doebrich May 30, 1916 2,345,476 Huelster Mar. 28, 1944 2,387,312 Whitmore Oct. 23, 1945 

